Extremities

We have now travelled to the northern- and southernmost extremities of the UK rail network.

Two years ago we started our North Atlantic island-hopping trip by travelling by train from London to Thurso in the far North of the mainland Scotland - Britain's most northerly railway station. Today we returned from a pleasant break in St Ives, Cornwall, via Penzance - the most southerly station in the country. The two are some 600 miles (966km) apart as the crow flies, or 870 miles (1,400km) by train via London. 600 miles is about the same as the distance between London and Copenhagen, or Berlin, Prague, Milan, or Marseille.

We don't think of our country being that big. In fact, within Europe (excluding Russia), only Norway, Sweden and France have larger "tip-to-toe" dimensions (Norway being about 1,100 miles from far north to south, Sweden about 970 miles, and mainland France about 670 miles from Brittany to the Cote d'Azure). These days we sometimes think of ourselves as a small island off the coast of Europe, but we share latitude with 14 other EU countries, including the capitals of 12 of them (more than any other EU country).

On our 2005 North Atlantic trip we also visited the UK's most northerly inhabited place - Skaw, on the island of Unst in Shetland. A profoundly remote but attractive place, by surface transport you need to take three ferries to get there from mainland Britain. But it is worth the effort for the stunning coastal scenery, empty beaches, and the eerily deserted settlements on the surrounding hillsides.

Of course, having tested the limits of the rail network, and pushed on by road to the northernmost extent of the UK, we feel bound to do the same southwestwards - to the Scilly Isles. In fact, Andrew has been there once before, in the '70s, and still has clear memories of approaching the islands on the Penzance ferry, exploring Tresco Abbey gardens, and bumping into then Prime Minister Harold Wilson on the beach near St Mary's. Of course, the Scilly Isles will also be another addition to our islands collection, and we can get there by surface transport too. Although I think that we will have to arrange it so that we go at least one way by helicopter, as that is one of the few modes of transport that neither of us has experienced so far.

Islands in the stream of consciousness

It's odd. We are both fundamentally city-dwellers/city-lovers, but in recent years we seem to have made a habit of travelling to (mostly) remote island communities. Our trip next month to north Norway and the Lofoten islands will be just the latest in a string (an archipelago?) of visits to places many people have hardly heard of and still less have any inclination to visit.

I think that it started in 1999 when we decided to stop off for a few days in the Åland islands on our way from St Petersburg to Stockholm by train and ferry. Five years later we had no hesitation in repeating the mid-Baltic experience - in the opposite direction that time. And the following year we concocted a North Atlantic island-hopping itinerary through Orkney, Shetland, and on to the Faroe islands. Then last year we included the Danish island of Bornholm on our zig-zagging tour through Holland, Germany, Denmark and southern Sweden. And on that occasion we also managed to visit the tiny off-offshore island of Christiansø. In between there have been numerous trips to "inshore" islands in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and Dave has even managed to get to one of the Frisian islands.

I don't know quite what it is about these places that appeals. They are mostly small, remote, isolated, and on the fringe. But they have also all been friendly, welcoming and utterly engaging, at least to us as travellers. There is certainly something about island communities that appeals, but it is difficult to put your finger on it. Just getting there usually takes some effort (mostly involving catching a ferry or two), and for us at least that is something of the appeal. All these places have strong maritime associations, and maybe that has something to do with it too. Of course, many of these islands have fantastic natural landscapes and scenery, but also, as islands, rather than mainland "wilderness" areas, they also have well defined cultural and community centres, which means that you are not usually far from a decent place to stay and eat (always important for us).

So, I still can't really say why it is that I like the idea of spending a few days on a remote island 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle with a population only slightly larger that the building we live in, but in two weeks time that is precisely what we will be doing, and I am rather looking forward to it.